Above, MAJ Repp presents a plaque to the Academy during the closing ceremony.

 



Today was an important day for our mission; it was the day of our closing ceremony. We began the day in class by having both American and Ukrainian cadets talk about what they expected from the class before we met, and how they feel about American/Ukrainian culture now after being exposed to it. Hearing the positive ways that we had affected their perspective on Americans and improved their conversational English filled me with pride, as I was able to see almost a manifestation of the work all the cadets had been doing over the course of our stay. After a few cadets shared their thoughts, we moved into a friendly but competitive game of Jeopardy. The different categories consisted of the topics and subjects we had gone over in class with the target being a review for the Ukrainian cadets. The competition really picked up when the grand prize of chocolate bars was revealed, causing teams to scramble with a heightened sense of urgency to present the correct answer to the question. Though only one team won the candy bars, there was enough candy to go around to that the teams that lost didn’t even seem to mind. Following the Jeopardy game, the actual ceremony took place, which featured the commanding staff of the academy, our mission commander Major Repp, and our team leader Captain Cox. Though brief, the ceremony consisted of a few Ukrainian and US cadets giving a speech on what they learned over the course of the trip, their changed perspectives, and their opinion on the intercultural experience we all shared. With the conclusion of the ceremony, Ukrainian and US cadets took pictures and exchanged gifts, chatting for awhile about the good times we’d shared since our arrival. However the day was not over yet, as the mess hall had a feast laid out for all the cadets and officers involved with our team featuring a lot of the delicious dishes that us cadets had come to know very well over the course of our stay. After everything that happened today, meeting the Ukrainian cadets, and having such a great time exploring the culture and history of the Ukraine, I truly believe it will be very hard to leave here.